# Latin Question - What does "Fuit Et Erit" mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-question-what-does-fuit-et-erit-mean/648994>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 1, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-question-what-does-fuit-et-erit-mean/648994 "2013-02-01T02:35:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-question-what-does-fuit-et-erit-mean/648994/1 "2013-02-01T02:35:30Z")

</div>

Title says it all. Saw it on an old poster and haven’t been able to google my worries away. Anyone know what it means?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-question-what-does-fuit-et-erit-mean/648994/2 "2013-02-01T02:37:35Z")

</div>

It means: [He/she/it] was and [he/she/it] will be.

You can’t tell the gender of the subject with just the verbs.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-question-what-does-fuit-et-erit-mean/648994/3 "2013-02-01T02:40:34Z")

</div>

Thanks for your speedy reply. I believe in the context it is “it”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-question-what-does-fuit-et-erit-mean/648994/4 "2013-02-01T07:12:25Z")

</div>

I was all set to leap in, but _fuit Ilium_.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-question-what-does-fuit-et-erit-mean/648994/5 "2013-02-01T19:44:37Z")

</div>

In Latin, “fuit” is the past (perfect) tense and “erit” the future tense of the verb “to be”, in the third person. So, “he/she/it”.

Using “fuit” instead of “erat” (the imperfect past tense) suggests either a one-time thing (like “he said”…), or more lyrically the finality of being in the past, as in Malacandra’s quote of “fuit Ilium” (_Troy has been_ - i.e., is no more, a quote from Virgil’s _Aeneid_). If it was meant to mean something like “Marcus was a farmer” it would be in the imperfect tense, _Marcus agricola erat_.

So I’d say “fuit et erit” most accurately means “what has been, and shall be again”.

_Iä Cthulhu fhtagn!_